Review of fire service sparks fears

United Fire Brigades Association director and Te Puke Chief Fire Officer Glenn Williams hopes the community will make submissions on the Fire Services Review, which is proposing major changes. Photo / John Borren

Bay volunteer firefighters fear they will lose control over their jobs, and brigades in rural areas could struggle to exist if the Government pushes through national changes to the way the service operates.

More than 80 per cent of firefighters in New Zealand are volunteers and the service is facing its biggest review since the 1940s.

Submissions close tomorrow on a document released by Minister of Internal Affairs Peter Dunne that suggests three options - enhanced status quo, a co-ordinated national service delivery or one national fire service.

There was a clear case for change, Mr Dunne said, and problems with the existing structures were evident.

"The legislation setting up the Fire Service Commission and Rural Fire Authorities dates from the 1970s. It is based on legislation from the 1940s or earlier, meaning in many ways it is out of step with modern practice."

So far more than 70 submissions have come in. The most common comment or concern raised had been the need to retain local community and regional input, Mr Dunne said.

Athenree Chief Fire Officer Peter Harwood said he was in favour of the status quo.

He said a centralised organisation went against the spirit of volunteering.

"We are free to make a lot of decisions. We work under the New Zealand Fire Service umbrella but at the end of the day we are an integral part of our community, and we need to be able to retain that sense of autonomy."

They had 14 volunteers. "We are volunteers and that is what I love about this organisation, if you don't like something you can say, 'sorry we are not accepting that'."

Papamoa fire chief Alan Bicker said he supported the review but was unsure if change was needed, although the issue of funding needed to be addressed. "A large number of multi-national companies insure offshore, so they are not contributing to funding but they are still expecting the fire service to respond to any fire instances on their premises."

Waihi Pukehina Chief Fire Officer Errol Watt said it was a big ask to be a volunteer.

Their station had 17 volunteers.

United Fire Brigades Association director and Te Puke fire chief Glenn Williams said any changes would not just affect firefighters and he hoped the community would make submissions. The Te Puke fire chief said in 1971 the brigade attended 20 callouts and nine were house fires compared to 2013 when it attended 250 calls and only two were house fires.

"There has been a whole lot of other work that the fire service attends to ... that we don't actually have a legal mandate to do. If we don't get a good shot at it this time who knows when the next time will be."